Woman upset with husband's level of care in Bonavista

About three weeks ago, when Anna Crewe of Bonavista got a phone call from her husband, Gary, telling her he had to leave work early because he was ill, she knew something was seriously wrong.

He's now on life support at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's after suffering a heart attack, contracting swine flu and experiencing kidney failure. Crewe wonders if the outcome would have been different had he initially received better care.

About three weeks ago, when Anna Crewe of Bonavista got a phone call from her husband, Gary, telling her he had to leave work early because he was ill, she knew something was seriously wrong.

He's now on life support at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's after suffering a heart attack, contracting swine flu and experiencing kidney failure. Crewe wonders if the outcome would have been different had he initially received better care.

Crewe, a fish plant worker, was on the highway Nov. 4, about halfway to St. John's with three colleagues, on their way to meet with the minister of fisheries, when she received the cellphone call from her husband. He was so ill, he left his car at work and a co-worker drove him home.

Crewe said she contacted a friend who agreed to take her husband to the Bonavista hospital.

A while later, Crewe phoned the hospital and said she was told he was in a room, lying down. She asked if he would be admitted, but said she was told he probably wouldn't be, because "you have to be very sick."

Shortly after, her friend telephoned her.

"She said, 'Ann, they don't have a clue. They sent Gary home like that,'" Crewe said, explaining that he was vomiting and was very ill.

When she returned home, Crewe said, Gary was still sick, running a fever and drinking a lot of water. "We got a full, great big jug in the fridge. He emptied that one out," she said. Crewe urged her husband to go back to the hospital, but he said he wanted to wait until the next day because he was told to come back in the morning for further blood tests.

By the next morning, his condition had deteriorated. Crewe said she took him to hospital and had to get a wheelchair at the door because he wasn't able to walk.

Crewe asked to see a doctor, but said her husband was assessed first by a nurse.

"She came out and called me, and I got up with him and wheeled him in the wheelchair. She looked at me and said, 'What have you got him in a wheelchair for? He can walk, he walked yesterday,'" Crewe recalled.

"Poor Gary is quiet, he tried to get up out of the chair and when he did, he fell back down. She looked at me and said, 'He's sicker today than he was yesterday.'"

Crewe said her husband was still vomiting uncontrollably. She said a doctor working in emergency that day treated her husband well, brought him inside and let him lie down until he fell asleep. After an X-ray was taken, Carew said she was told he had pneumonia and the hospital planned to admit him for three or four days.

Crewe wasn't allowed to visit him because of visitor restrictions at the hospital, but stayed in contact by phone.

She said around 8:30 p.m. that night, she phoned him and he seemed exhausted.

Crewe said he told her he "made a fool" of himself, that he'd needed to go to the bathroom, but couldn't get anyone to help him.

"The doctors were nowhere and nurses were nowhere to be found, she said, and he almost cried. He said, 'I done it in my clothes and the nurse or nurse assistant came in and got savage with me,'" Crewe said.

But even worse than that, she said, her husband was given a pan of water and told to wash himself.

The next morning, Crewe said her husband was transferred by ambulance from Bonavista to the Dr. G.B. Cross Hospital in Clarenville.

Crewe said when she got to see him in the Clarenville hospital, he had a large oxygen mask on and still couldn't get his breath.

She asked if she had been told that her husband had a heart attack and then came more bad news.

The doctor came out again, Crewe said, and told her she could see her husband for a few minutes, but they were going to have to put him on life support.

"Well, I almost dropped myself," she said.

The next dose of bad news came when she was told his kidneys were failing and he'd have to be transferred again to the Health Sciences Centre to be put on dialysis.

Crewe said her husband had a heart attack four years ago, is diabetic and had kidney problems, but doctors had told him it would be at least another couple of years before he'd have to begin dialysis. Since then, he's also been diagnosed with swine flu and remains on life support. He's 52. Crewe is 51. They've been married just two years, but now she fears the worst.

"His kidneys are gone and his lungs, and it doesn't look very good," she said.

Crewe said she doesn't have a problem with how her husband was cared for in Clarenville or St. John's, but has complained to the Bonavista hospital about his treatment there.

She said when she thinks about her husband being given water to wash himself after soiling his clothes - despite having had a heart attack and having H1N1 - "you wouldn't do that to an animal."

Crewe said her mother was a resident of the Golden Heights Manor seniors' home in Bonavista for nine years, which is also part of the Bonavista Health Centre.

"I don't have problems with everyone there. They were really good to my mother," she said, adding the manner in which her husband was treated was a whole different experience.

Eastern Health's policy is not to discuss individual cases because of patient confidentiality. However, Deborah Collins, Eastern Health's media relations manager, said Wednesday the family's concerns have been brought to the attention of its chief operating officer for the peninsulas.

"We will continue to follow up directly with the family to address any further questions or concerns they might have. Any time there are concerns regarding quality of care, there is a review process that is followed, and we are following that process in this case as well," Collins said.

Comments

Recent comments

There are two sides to every story people! Yet once again the telegram only gets on side. I guess that the FULL truth wont sell papers. I do not for one second believe that her husband was yelled at for peeing in his pants. It happens all day, every day in hospitals.

Why dose the telegram always give these bleeding heart stories that cant be backed up by fact. Some of the reporters should be ashamed to call themselves journalists. It is too easy to pick on these big organizations, because they are not allowed to comment on individual cases, and for some of the victims there treatment will never be good enough. I have been working with the public long enough to know that some people will always complain.

Anyone who posted in a negative way obviously is in health care or is married to a health care worker. Funky Monkey...go get a job buddy and stop trying to stir the pot. Guys like you and Willie Hunt give Newfoundlanders a horrible name...get a life

there are rns at that hospital,they just let the noisy lpns call the shots!i have never heard a good comment about that hospital.i could write a book about terrible experiences while having a loved1 in there.the staff spent their time sitting at nursing station discussing wedding,holiday plans, while buzzers blared.the cleaning staff did show compassion.as for the visiting hrs-that was a joke.we had to almost dig in our heels and fight to stay with our dying mother.i hope that none of you have to find that the call bell was thaken fro your family member-it happens there.no amount of extra money can cure laziness and poor work ethics.

this sounds so like bonavista hospital.my late mother spent 2 months in that hospital.it's run by lpns,no authority figures to be seen.family andmy mother were treated like animals.at present time i would not even take one of my pets to that hospital.it should be closed.as for the visiting,even when my mom was dying,we had to stay strictly to visiting hrs.,while friends of the staff could visit anyone at any time.it's a matter of who you know there.

I think that what happened to this man was devastaing and to read some of these comments makes me sick. I lived in Bonavista and I know from experience that this hospital needs help. I brought my, at the time, 2 year old their 5 o'clock in the morning because he was having a eplipsy episode. They told me that there was nothing wrong with him and that he coould go home. An hour later he had a much worse episode and almosrt never made it. That hospital has been in need for help for the longest time and no one is listening and just sending them in St. John's. Well there are people dieing and we need to do something about it. I congradulate the wife of this man for sticking up and fighting for what she knew was wrong. And for people to say that she was wrong are the people who think of only themselves and dont care about anything else. I hope that this man recovers and I hope that the wife receives the justice that her husband deserves.

Anne Carew had every right to complain about the care or lack of given to her husband at Bonavista Hospital, to bad more people dont complain it's unfortunate that the media has to be used but sometimes that's the only way to get any results. I could write a book about the care or again lack that was given to my late mother at the same hospital , a visitor to another patient in mothers hospital room told me she had to get my mom a drink of water ,she was crying for a drink.there are some good workers in that hospital and beleive it or not the cleaning staff tops them all.

How disgusting!Some of you health care workers should be given the boot.You should be ashamed of youselves.You are dealing with the most delicate of human issues whether it's a false complaint or not,you need to be the most compassionate.WTH is wrong with you?I hope you get your turn.

I'm Gary's stepdaughter. I just wanted to thank you all for your support. It is not right how he was treated , it's doesn't surprise anybody in our community. Now that my mother has spoken up hopefully something will be done about this. As for the person who said my mother exagerrated , i think your just as rude as the nurse's in that hospital .

This is a very disturbing article and there have been some equally disturbing posts! As a person who is planning to retire back home in Newfoundland, it really gives me pause when I consider the uneven and sometimes poor standard of health care that I hear about through the media and experience personally through the life events of my aging parents who live in Central. I hope the negative posters never have such a horrible event in their lives. They are too quick to condemn a person who is experiencing a waking nightmare! I have to commend Mrs. Crewe for bringing this to the attention of the public, thereby forcing the hand of Eastern Heath and the minister, to investigate and hopefully correct the mistakes made in her husband's diagnosis and care. She may save some other family this pain and anguish by forcing Eastern Health to investigate and hopefully correct the mistakes made in her husband's case. Poor care givers do exist- I have met some. They are not trained to be poor - they just are in the wrong profession or have given up caring for some reason. Keeping this medical disaster in the dark will never bring about needed changes. I really hope that the present and future governments put some careful planning and $$$ into improving health care for the whole province. It would be a commendable use of our new prosperity that would benefit all our people.

If my husband was sick in hospital on life support and had also experienced the same dissatisfying level of care articulated in this article, I know the last thing I would do would be report his ordeal to the public. Eastern Health has a patient confidentiality policy in place to maintain the integrity of their pateints. Perhaps this wife should try uphold a greater level of integrity and empathy for her husband, considering the fact that she described him in this article as a quiet man . My advice would be to take your efforts and place them into helping your husband recouperate during this trying time instead of venting through the media and misconstruding the abilities of the Eastern Health staff.

For someone to get savage because someone soiled their clothes is unacceptable and I hope that person is reprimanded for their actions. The healthcare system today is certainly not what it used to be when it comes to bedside manner. I hope Mr. Crewe makes a full covery. All the best!

Darn funny thing....... the minute, and i mean the minute, some.....people(??)
see or hear the word nurse, they take the bit in their teeth and try to string up RNs for whatever is done. Well here's a lil news flash for the likes of those who just love to assume ( and we all know what happens when people ASSume),based on very little information - the word nurse these days does NOT mean ONLY an RN - the word nurse is used to describe either an RN or a LPN. So where's the info in this article that states that an RN was definitely the one who got 'savage' with this poor fella? Gotta wonder about some people and their attitudes. Personally, i'd get savage if i heard anyone DARE to say something even remotely nasty towards any patient - be no problem in verbally tearing a strip right off their mangy hides, and reporting them, in writing, thereafter.
I hope this poor man gets better soon.

I work in Health Care, and some people are rude! They are frustrated with working short of staff, extra workloads, etc...so they are often touchy. Not really pleasant to work with actually. But it is NOT acceptable to vent this frustration towards the patient! You smile, put on a happy face and treat others the way you would like your family member to be treated. I feel sorry for the Crewe family. I hope your husband makes a full recovery. I also believe you should file a complaint with Eastern Health and let them look into the situation to prevent it from happening to others. All the best!

I was born in the Bonavista hospital in 1971. Back when they didnt have alot of this friggin high tech. stuff. And back then they could diagnose a patient by their syptoms....what in the world happended to people.
I am appauled and totally discusted by those nurses. They should be FIRED!!!Not suspended, but fired!!
They should be ashamed! DISCUSTING!!!

To Lori from St. John's NL: Actually, I do understand what goes on in hospitals, I just didn't publize my experiences to the entire province. There are more discrete and direct ways to find resolutions to these issues. This article is not helping Mrs. Crewe's cause; its pissing off health care workers across the province because all workers are construded as doing a terrible job. And in light of the recent pay raise offered to nurses, most are overpaid bad health care workers apparently. Also, I am certainly not saying that I would sit idolly by if my husband gets sick. I am saying that I wouldn't look to the media for help.

I hope Mr. Crewe makes a full recovery. While I was in Catalina I had to take my very sick little boy to the hospital late at night. When I got to the Bonavista hospital they had to call a Doctor in. The doctor on call told the nurse on the phone that he wasn't coming in to see my son. The nurse refused to tell us that information and put my husband on the phone with the doctor. The doctor asked him why we didn't come in before 11! Eventually he came in and still did nothing,.. we ended up at the Clarenville hospital getting a referral for a pediatrician.

This is outrageous. The animals at the SPCA get treated better than this. The nurses just got a big raise and this is the way they treat their patients. They're havings talks about Work Ethics in the Workplace, well it's obvious where they should start, in the Health Care. That's what you're getting paid for, to help sick people not send them away so they can get worse. Whoever that nurse was that got savage with that gentleman should be taken to task. My dear, what goes around comes around. You want the highest salary but want the patients to look after themselves. So, when we are sick, we'll just stay home and let you get paid for sitting at your desks talking to each other. It's our taxes that's paying your salary.

This is partly because there are no internal medicine specialists, save 1 remaining, outside of St. John's all the way to Gander. The government doesn't want you to know that the hospitals in Burin, Marystown, Bay Roberts, Placentia, Clarenville, Carbonear, and all of Labrador have zero internists as they've all left for better paying jobs on the mainland. Our internists are the lowest paid in the country with some of the highest workloads and the gov't is ignoring them. They were warned this was going to happen. The gov't thinks people are going to panic if they know the system has collapsed. Well, wake up people, it has collapsed and people are dying because of it. God help you if you are an adult with multiple serious problems and don't live next the Health Sciences Centre. Even there they are 50% understaffed. But I guess that's better than 100% like the other places mentioned. Too bad it isn't cancer, maybe then the government would look at doing something. Well, they are going to be looking at another Inquiry as soon as people actually realize how much of a disaster we already find ourselves in. Why don't the intrepid reporters of The Telegram call and ask if there is General Internal Medicine coverage at these sites to deal with these complex multi-stystem medical cases. I already know what the answer will be: NO! But that's OK, just hop an ambulance to where ever, no need to panic. Worse comes to worse, I guess they can just fly them around the country. Has to be better than the third-world health care system we have no. Why don't the reporters also ask how many Internists we are training at our medical school to help with this crisis? I know the answer to that as well. And, it isn't a pretty picture.

This is UNACCEPTABLE..i really hope the nurse that done this to this poor man gets what she deserves which is out of a job FOR GOOD! Theres no need of this, nurses and doctors are there to help the sick not let them suffer it out let alone have to wash themselves after having all those complications...this is sick!!! I had a loved one in the Bonavista hospital as well not long ago and they weren't the best of it towards her...I hope when it comes to their turn as this poor man is in then they get put in the same position with no help or mercy!!!!

Has anyone ever thought about running this Eastern Health out of town and and look at getting another management system (ie the Salvation army)for our health care. There is very little or no active management on site in our hospitals, the medical staff are managing themselves and that works well for the medics but certainly not the patients. I think it's high time for a review.

I think anyone planning to retire back home needs to really look into the type of healthcare available in this province. One day we all will require some form of medical treatment or care and these are sorely lacking in ALL parts of NL, no matter what anyone says. Early detection and diagnostics require qualified professionals. Understandably, the best have moved on to greener pastures with lighter work loads and more money. Until this government gets it's priorities in order, health care delivery in NL will continue to deteriorate. I pray my family stays healthy and that this gentleman fully recovers.

I agree with broadcasting this type of ordeal. It's follows so closely on the heels of the nurses receiving thier new Collective Agreement with a minimum of a 20% raise. No wonder the public had a hard time trying to justify the enormous amount of money that the nurses were crying for.
I do hope Mr. Crewe makes a full recovery.
All the best to his wife in trying to make a change to better the situation for the next patient who comes in.

I wouldn't get a prenancy test done at the bonavista hospital.Is Rodger Fitgerald looking into this fiasco,or is he waiting on instructions from Danny?Maybe Mr.Fitgerald should climb down off his high throne and notice the damage done to his area by Danny and his water st lawyer clowns

I am currently living off of the rock and just learned about this treatment of my uncle...It's absolutely pathetic and disgraceful to learn about how your loved one has been treated, though through past experiences with the hospital system in Bonavista it really doesn't surprise me....I'm just surprised it took soo long for someone to speak up and let the public be aware of how bad the treatment really is home...ur almost better off takin the chance and driving hundreds of miles away to Clarenville or St. John's just so u can be treated like actual human beings, and not like the dirt under someones boot...

I cannot believe the comments some of you are making. Mrs. Crewe is not tearing down the whole health care system. There is no reason that health care 'professionals' should be pissed off by her comments unless they are the people who does not do their job well. Instead of being pissed off they should be fighting to make the health care system in this province better. Mrs. Crewe clearly does not have a problem with the workers she dealt with at either the Clarenville or St. John's hospitals. How can some of you be so uncaring? Her husband is on life support! You don't have to agree with Mrs. Crewe going to the media with her experience. But do not tear down this woman who must feel so helpless in this situation. I hope none of the people making these heartless comments are health care workers - if you are I feel sorry for your patients.

Wake up JM and Crewe it is obvious that this lady's husband was treated so poorly that it deserved to go to the media. Obviously you dont spend much time in hospitals cause let me tell you I have and you would not believe how some nurses and even doctors treat/speak to their patients. I witnessed it many many times ..........not once.....but many. Having said that most nurses and doctors are wonderful and respectful but let me assure you there are a good number not fit to be nurses or doctors. Sounds mean but it is very true. If Crewe wants to play detective maybe she should go walk up and down on a few hospital wards and keep her eyes and ears open. 24 hours would be ample time to give you just a small idea of what goes on that is unacceptable in one day. Overworked and tired nurses means unhappy employees, neglected sponge baths and many untouched meal trays not because they didnt like the food cause no one had the time to show them what was even under the lid cause they needed help with their meal but there was no help around. And for JM's information she couldnt be with her husband because of visitor restrictions as I am sure she would have been had she been allowed. Shame on you for picking on this distraught lady. Our health care corporation is certainly not what it used to be and until you are a patient or a helping family member of a patient will you really see what goes on. Maybe you will be one of the lucky ones cause patient care is just not there anymore its a thing of the past.

We all know why doctors are leaving the province. It is for more pay as they are the lowest paid in Canada. Our MHAs are the highest paid in Canada. And we can't afford to lose our politicians, so the doctors will just have to go.

We lost Trevor Taylor and Paul Orman recently. We should have paid them more money to stay. The more doctors leave the province, the more money we have to pay politicians.

It is very easy to take this women's story as truth. But that's all it is, a story. There are no facts here about the treatment, only her opinion of the treatment. I have spent a lot of time in hospitals and I have met rude doctors and nurses, but generally the vast majority are very professional and helpful. What I have seen a lot of is patients and families which believe they are the only people important in the hospitals and treat staff as servants. I'm not saying what she said is a lie, what I am saying is, you are only hearing one side of an emotional story and emotional people have a tendency to exagerrate.

There are two sides to every story people! Yet once again the telegram only gets on side. I guess that the FULL truth wont sell papers. I do not for one second believe that her husband was yelled at for peeing in his pants. It happens all day, every day in hospitals.

Why dose the telegram always give these bleeding heart stories that cant be backed up by fact. Some of the reporters should be ashamed to call themselves journalists. It is too easy to pick on these big organizations, because they are not allowed to comment on individual cases, and for some of the victims there treatment will never be good enough. I have been working with the public long enough to know that some people will always complain.

Anyone who posted in a negative way obviously is in health care or is married to a health care worker. Funky Monkey...go get a job buddy and stop trying to stir the pot. Guys like you and Willie Hunt give Newfoundlanders a horrible name...get a life

there are rns at that hospital,they just let the noisy lpns call the shots!i have never heard a good comment about that hospital.i could write a book about terrible experiences while having a loved1 in there.the staff spent their time sitting at nursing station discussing wedding,holiday plans, while buzzers blared.the cleaning staff did show compassion.as for the visiting hrs-that was a joke.we had to almost dig in our heels and fight to stay with our dying mother.i hope that none of you have to find that the call bell was thaken fro your family member-it happens there.no amount of extra money can cure laziness and poor work ethics.

this sounds so like bonavista hospital.my late mother spent 2 months in that hospital.it's run by lpns,no authority figures to be seen.family andmy mother were treated like animals.at present time i would not even take one of my pets to that hospital.it should be closed.as for the visiting,even when my mom was dying,we had to stay strictly to visiting hrs.,while friends of the staff could visit anyone at any time.it's a matter of who you know there.

I think that what happened to this man was devastaing and to read some of these comments makes me sick. I lived in Bonavista and I know from experience that this hospital needs help. I brought my, at the time, 2 year old their 5 o'clock in the morning because he was having a eplipsy episode. They told me that there was nothing wrong with him and that he coould go home. An hour later he had a much worse episode and almosrt never made it. That hospital has been in need for help for the longest time and no one is listening and just sending them in St. John's. Well there are people dieing and we need to do something about it. I congradulate the wife of this man for sticking up and fighting for what she knew was wrong. And for people to say that she was wrong are the people who think of only themselves and dont care about anything else. I hope that this man recovers and I hope that the wife receives the justice that her husband deserves.

Anne Carew had every right to complain about the care or lack of given to her husband at Bonavista Hospital, to bad more people dont complain it's unfortunate that the media has to be used but sometimes that's the only way to get any results. I could write a book about the care or again lack that was given to my late mother at the same hospital , a visitor to another patient in mothers hospital room told me she had to get my mom a drink of water ,she was crying for a drink.there are some good workers in that hospital and beleive it or not the cleaning staff tops them all.

How disgusting!Some of you health care workers should be given the boot.You should be ashamed of youselves.You are dealing with the most delicate of human issues whether it's a false complaint or not,you need to be the most compassionate.WTH is wrong with you?I hope you get your turn.

I'm Gary's stepdaughter. I just wanted to thank you all for your support. It is not right how he was treated , it's doesn't surprise anybody in our community. Now that my mother has spoken up hopefully something will be done about this. As for the person who said my mother exagerrated , i think your just as rude as the nurse's in that hospital .

This is a very disturbing article and there have been some equally disturbing posts! As a person who is planning to retire back home in Newfoundland, it really gives me pause when I consider the uneven and sometimes poor standard of health care that I hear about through the media and experience personally through the life events of my aging parents who live in Central. I hope the negative posters never have such a horrible event in their lives. They are too quick to condemn a person who is experiencing a waking nightmare! I have to commend Mrs. Crewe for bringing this to the attention of the public, thereby forcing the hand of Eastern Heath and the minister, to investigate and hopefully correct the mistakes made in her husband's diagnosis and care. She may save some other family this pain and anguish by forcing Eastern Health to investigate and hopefully correct the mistakes made in her husband's case. Poor care givers do exist- I have met some. They are not trained to be poor - they just are in the wrong profession or have given up caring for some reason. Keeping this medical disaster in the dark will never bring about needed changes. I really hope that the present and future governments put some careful planning and $$$ into improving health care for the whole province. It would be a commendable use of our new prosperity that would benefit all our people.

If my husband was sick in hospital on life support and had also experienced the same dissatisfying level of care articulated in this article, I know the last thing I would do would be report his ordeal to the public. Eastern Health has a patient confidentiality policy in place to maintain the integrity of their pateints. Perhaps this wife should try uphold a greater level of integrity and empathy for her husband, considering the fact that she described him in this article as a quiet man . My advice would be to take your efforts and place them into helping your husband recouperate during this trying time instead of venting through the media and misconstruding the abilities of the Eastern Health staff.

For someone to get savage because someone soiled their clothes is unacceptable and I hope that person is reprimanded for their actions. The healthcare system today is certainly not what it used to be when it comes to bedside manner. I hope Mr. Crewe makes a full covery. All the best!

Darn funny thing....... the minute, and i mean the minute, some.....people(??)
see or hear the word nurse, they take the bit in their teeth and try to string up RNs for whatever is done. Well here's a lil news flash for the likes of those who just love to assume ( and we all know what happens when people ASSume),based on very little information - the word nurse these days does NOT mean ONLY an RN - the word nurse is used to describe either an RN or a LPN. So where's the info in this article that states that an RN was definitely the one who got 'savage' with this poor fella? Gotta wonder about some people and their attitudes. Personally, i'd get savage if i heard anyone DARE to say something even remotely nasty towards any patient - be no problem in verbally tearing a strip right off their mangy hides, and reporting them, in writing, thereafter.
I hope this poor man gets better soon.

I work in Health Care, and some people are rude! They are frustrated with working short of staff, extra workloads, etc...so they are often touchy. Not really pleasant to work with actually. But it is NOT acceptable to vent this frustration towards the patient! You smile, put on a happy face and treat others the way you would like your family member to be treated. I feel sorry for the Crewe family. I hope your husband makes a full recovery. I also believe you should file a complaint with Eastern Health and let them look into the situation to prevent it from happening to others. All the best!

I was born in the Bonavista hospital in 1971. Back when they didnt have alot of this friggin high tech. stuff. And back then they could diagnose a patient by their syptoms....what in the world happended to people.
I am appauled and totally discusted by those nurses. They should be FIRED!!!Not suspended, but fired!!
They should be ashamed! DISCUSTING!!!

To Lori from St. John's NL: Actually, I do understand what goes on in hospitals, I just didn't publize my experiences to the entire province. There are more discrete and direct ways to find resolutions to these issues. This article is not helping Mrs. Crewe's cause; its pissing off health care workers across the province because all workers are construded as doing a terrible job. And in light of the recent pay raise offered to nurses, most are overpaid bad health care workers apparently. Also, I am certainly not saying that I would sit idolly by if my husband gets sick. I am saying that I wouldn't look to the media for help.

I hope Mr. Crewe makes a full recovery. While I was in Catalina I had to take my very sick little boy to the hospital late at night. When I got to the Bonavista hospital they had to call a Doctor in. The doctor on call told the nurse on the phone that he wasn't coming in to see my son. The nurse refused to tell us that information and put my husband on the phone with the doctor. The doctor asked him why we didn't come in before 11! Eventually he came in and still did nothing,.. we ended up at the Clarenville hospital getting a referral for a pediatrician.

This is outrageous. The animals at the SPCA get treated better than this. The nurses just got a big raise and this is the way they treat their patients. They're havings talks about Work Ethics in the Workplace, well it's obvious where they should start, in the Health Care. That's what you're getting paid for, to help sick people not send them away so they can get worse. Whoever that nurse was that got savage with that gentleman should be taken to task. My dear, what goes around comes around. You want the highest salary but want the patients to look after themselves. So, when we are sick, we'll just stay home and let you get paid for sitting at your desks talking to each other. It's our taxes that's paying your salary.

This is partly because there are no internal medicine specialists, save 1 remaining, outside of St. John's all the way to Gander. The government doesn't want you to know that the hospitals in Burin, Marystown, Bay Roberts, Placentia, Clarenville, Carbonear, and all of Labrador have zero internists as they've all left for better paying jobs on the mainland. Our internists are the lowest paid in the country with some of the highest workloads and the gov't is ignoring them. They were warned this was going to happen. The gov't thinks people are going to panic if they know the system has collapsed. Well, wake up people, it has collapsed and people are dying because of it. God help you if you are an adult with multiple serious problems and don't live next the Health Sciences Centre. Even there they are 50% understaffed. But I guess that's better than 100% like the other places mentioned. Too bad it isn't cancer, maybe then the government would look at doing something. Well, they are going to be looking at another Inquiry as soon as people actually realize how much of a disaster we already find ourselves in. Why don't the intrepid reporters of The Telegram call and ask if there is General Internal Medicine coverage at these sites to deal with these complex multi-stystem medical cases. I already know what the answer will be: NO! But that's OK, just hop an ambulance to where ever, no need to panic. Worse comes to worse, I guess they can just fly them around the country. Has to be better than the third-world health care system we have no. Why don't the reporters also ask how many Internists we are training at our medical school to help with this crisis? I know the answer to that as well. And, it isn't a pretty picture.

This is UNACCEPTABLE..i really hope the nurse that done this to this poor man gets what she deserves which is out of a job FOR GOOD! Theres no need of this, nurses and doctors are there to help the sick not let them suffer it out let alone have to wash themselves after having all those complications...this is sick!!! I had a loved one in the Bonavista hospital as well not long ago and they weren't the best of it towards her...I hope when it comes to their turn as this poor man is in then they get put in the same position with no help or mercy!!!!

Has anyone ever thought about running this Eastern Health out of town and and look at getting another management system (ie the Salvation army)for our health care. There is very little or no active management on site in our hospitals, the medical staff are managing themselves and that works well for the medics but certainly not the patients. I think it's high time for a review.

I think anyone planning to retire back home needs to really look into the type of healthcare available in this province. One day we all will require some form of medical treatment or care and these are sorely lacking in ALL parts of NL, no matter what anyone says. Early detection and diagnostics require qualified professionals. Understandably, the best have moved on to greener pastures with lighter work loads and more money. Until this government gets it's priorities in order, health care delivery in NL will continue to deteriorate. I pray my family stays healthy and that this gentleman fully recovers.

I agree with broadcasting this type of ordeal. It's follows so closely on the heels of the nurses receiving thier new Collective Agreement with a minimum of a 20% raise. No wonder the public had a hard time trying to justify the enormous amount of money that the nurses were crying for.
I do hope Mr. Crewe makes a full recovery.
All the best to his wife in trying to make a change to better the situation for the next patient who comes in.

I wouldn't get a prenancy test done at the bonavista hospital.Is Rodger Fitgerald looking into this fiasco,or is he waiting on instructions from Danny?Maybe Mr.Fitgerald should climb down off his high throne and notice the damage done to his area by Danny and his water st lawyer clowns

I am currently living off of the rock and just learned about this treatment of my uncle...It's absolutely pathetic and disgraceful to learn about how your loved one has been treated, though through past experiences with the hospital system in Bonavista it really doesn't surprise me....I'm just surprised it took soo long for someone to speak up and let the public be aware of how bad the treatment really is home...ur almost better off takin the chance and driving hundreds of miles away to Clarenville or St. John's just so u can be treated like actual human beings, and not like the dirt under someones boot...

I cannot believe the comments some of you are making. Mrs. Crewe is not tearing down the whole health care system. There is no reason that health care 'professionals' should be pissed off by her comments unless they are the people who does not do their job well. Instead of being pissed off they should be fighting to make the health care system in this province better. Mrs. Crewe clearly does not have a problem with the workers she dealt with at either the Clarenville or St. John's hospitals. How can some of you be so uncaring? Her husband is on life support! You don't have to agree with Mrs. Crewe going to the media with her experience. But do not tear down this woman who must feel so helpless in this situation. I hope none of the people making these heartless comments are health care workers - if you are I feel sorry for your patients.

Wake up JM and Crewe it is obvious that this lady's husband was treated so poorly that it deserved to go to the media. Obviously you dont spend much time in hospitals cause let me tell you I have and you would not believe how some nurses and even doctors treat/speak to their patients. I witnessed it many many times ..........not once.....but many. Having said that most nurses and doctors are wonderful and respectful but let me assure you there are a good number not fit to be nurses or doctors. Sounds mean but it is very true. If Crewe wants to play detective maybe she should go walk up and down on a few hospital wards and keep her eyes and ears open. 24 hours would be ample time to give you just a small idea of what goes on that is unacceptable in one day. Overworked and tired nurses means unhappy employees, neglected sponge baths and many untouched meal trays not because they didnt like the food cause no one had the time to show them what was even under the lid cause they needed help with their meal but there was no help around. And for JM's information she couldnt be with her husband because of visitor restrictions as I am sure she would have been had she been allowed. Shame on you for picking on this distraught lady. Our health care corporation is certainly not what it used to be and until you are a patient or a helping family member of a patient will you really see what goes on. Maybe you will be one of the lucky ones cause patient care is just not there anymore its a thing of the past.

We all know why doctors are leaving the province. It is for more pay as they are the lowest paid in Canada. Our MHAs are the highest paid in Canada. And we can't afford to lose our politicians, so the doctors will just have to go.

We lost Trevor Taylor and Paul Orman recently. We should have paid them more money to stay. The more doctors leave the province, the more money we have to pay politicians.

It is very easy to take this women's story as truth. But that's all it is, a story. There are no facts here about the treatment, only her opinion of the treatment. I have spent a lot of time in hospitals and I have met rude doctors and nurses, but generally the vast majority are very professional and helpful. What I have seen a lot of is patients and families which believe they are the only people important in the hospitals and treat staff as servants. I'm not saying what she said is a lie, what I am saying is, you are only hearing one side of an emotional story and emotional people have a tendency to exagerrate.